In plain English
An AI-search content audit should verify access, identity, usefulness, evidence and measurement in that order. Confirm important URLs are crawlable and indexable; reconcile business facts; test whether each page answers a real customer decision; validate only truthful structured data; and record what providers actually report. Finish with owners, priorities, dates and recheck criteria.
Can search and answer systems reach the right pages?
Check each priority URL from an anonymous request. Record the status code, redirect path, robots.txt access, index directive, canonical URL, rendered main content and inclusion in navigation and the XML sitemap. Confirm that internal links are ordinary crawlable links and that deleted pages return a real 404 or 410. Inspect a sample in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools instead of inferring index status from a site search alone.
Classify the outcome by stage: undiscovered, blocked, fetch failure, rendered without essential content, duplicate, non-indexable, indexed or provider visibility observed. Google separates crawling, indexing and serving and does not guarantee progression through them. Bing similarly connects discovery, rendering and index accuracy with grounding eligibility. This stage-based record prevents a writer from being asked to rewrite a page whose actual problem is access or duplication.
Sources for this section: In-depth guide to how Google Search works, Bing Webmaster Guidelines.
Are business facts and claims consistent and verifiable?
Compare the website, structured data and managed profiles against an approved business record. Check the recognised name, domain, phone, email, service catalogue, qualifications, operating areas, staffed locations and opening information. For service-area businesses, distinguish where customers are visited from where a storefront exists. Flag a conflict with its two sources; do not silently choose the version that appears most favourable for search. Assign every conflict an owner.
Next, sample material claims. Record the supporting source, evidence date, permission, scope and responsible approver. Label forecasts, examples and first-party findings accurately, and remove fabricated reviews, unsupported superlatives or expired credentials. Google says Business Profile data can draw on owners, public pages, licensed sources and user contributions, while its helpful-content guidance asks whether sourcing, expertise and authorship are clear. The audit should expose missing proof, not manufacture it.
Sources for this section: Understand how Google sources and uses info in Business Profiles and local search results, Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
Does each page answer a real customer decision?
Assign one primary question and intended audience to each page. Check whether the opening passage answers that question directly, then whether the rest explains fit, scope, process, inputs, evidence, limits and next action. Identify overlapping pages that should be consolidated and genuine gaps that require business knowledge. Do not create a page for every prompt variation or impose a word count where the subject needs less or more explanation.
Read each section outside its surrounding page. A reusable passage should name its subject, retain essential conditions and point to evidence without becoming awkward for a human reader. Check descriptive headings, tables where relationships repeat, alt text for informative images and links to relevant services, locations and sources. Google advises useful, original, people-first content and says no special rewriting or tiny content chunks are required for its generative Search features.
Sources for this section: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search.
Are markup, controls and measurement ready for release?
Compare structured data with visible content, validate the syntax and remove hidden, irrelevant or stale properties. Confirm that crawler rules express the business's intended policy for each provider; OpenAI, for example, documents OAI-SearchBot for search visibility separately from GPTBot controls for potential training. Re-test enquiry forms, analytics events and source capture so increased visibility can be connected to useful actions without collecting unnecessary information.
Create a findings register with URL, observation, source, severity, recommended action, owner and recheck date. Keep provider-native metrics separate: Google AI-feature reporting, where available, differs from Bing's citation preview and from ChatGPT referral sessions. Record samples and rollout limits beside the figures. Prioritise blocked access, harmful inaccuracies and unsupported claims before formatting refinements. Close an item only when the live evidence passes in production, not when a draft change is promised.
Sources for this section: General structured data guidelines, Publishers and Developers - FAQ, Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console, Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview.
Official references
- In-depth guide to how Google Search works (Google Search Central)
- Bing Webmaster Guidelines (Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools)
- Understand how Google sources and uses info in Business Profiles and local search results (Google Business Profile Help)
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google (Google Business Profile Help)
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (Google Search Central)
- Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search (Google Search Central)
- General structured data guidelines (Google Search Central)
- Publishers and Developers - FAQ (OpenAI Help Center)
- Introducing Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (Google Search Central Blog)
- Introducing AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools Public Preview (Microsoft Bing Webmaster Blog)